Kathie Romines

Since December 2003, Kathie Romines has generously supported brain tumor research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Shortly before she lost her husband, Larry, to glioblastoma in 2004, they created the Brain Tumor Research Fund at Northwestern. Thanks to their leadership in giving and great advocacy on behalf of their physicians, their friends and family responded in kind. Many generous contributions were made to the Lurie Cancer Center in memory of Larry Romines after his death, planting a seed—to be cultivated by the contributions of numerous other donors—for what would later become the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute. 

A collaborative effort of Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, within the Lurie Cancer Center, the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute is dedicated to providing state-of-the-art clinical care, along with the resources and support that patients and families need. This requires the services of a multidisciplinary team of experts in brain and spinal disease.

Today, Kathie Romines is a member of the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute board of directors and its advisory council and an ongoing donor to the Institute. "It's like my child," she says. "It's rewarding to see it grow." Mrs. Romines continues to support brain tumor research because she says it gives hope to other families. She feels that the development of the Institute is a "dream come true," and she hopes another family will be helped by the groundbreaking research being conducted at Northwestern.